First Post

Hi! My name is Jen and I thought it would be neat to document my daily happenings here. I am not going to pick any one topic to ramble on about. Just normal life stuff. Family life, Marriage, Cooking, etc. I have 4 children so there is never a boring moment around here.....or a quiet one for that matter. I love the chaos of it all and wouldn't trade it for anything....although it is nice to have a quiet moment or two, once in a while. Right now I am running solo here in Maine, my husband is in Connecticut for one more week. We bought our home here in Maine in August of 2008, we completed the inside with flooring, finishing trim and paint by November of 2008, in October of 2009 we put our home in Connecticut on the market, with high hopes to sell it. The kids and I moved here at the end of October (it's much easier to have a "show" ready home while living in another home), my husband stayed behind in Connecticut to finish packing and take care of the house until we found a buyer. We finally closed on it today! We are no longer the proud owners of a house we don't love. It hasn't been an easy time, but it has been a learning experience for me, the kids and my husband. It's true that love grows stronger when you are apart and I can't wait to see dh! I have been responsible for running the show while dh has been in CT, I have become quite talented at wood splitting, we have an outdoor wood furnace that heats our home and if you want to be warm, which we do here in Maine, you learn quickly how to have the most accurate aim you possibly can. I have also learned how to snow plow....otherwise we would be starving by now, it is our responsibility to plow the dirt road we live on, which is a half a mile from the tar road to our dooryard. I have also done the cooking, cleaning and schooling. I am looking forward to a little break, but that doesn't mean I won't ever split wood or plow the driveway again, just not for a couple of days. I have a goal to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year and due to all the physical activity that I do everyday I am 6.4 pounds closer to that goal. Another one of my goals is to eat healthier with the help of my family, we all work on the menu planning and we haven't eaten take out since last year! Tonight for dinner we are having ravioli w/ crockpot spaghetti sauce that is thawing out. I think the kids and I will sit down later and plan next week's menu. With the exception of milk and fresh produce I don't think there will be much on the shopping list. Which is great! The freezer is pretty well stocked with healthy dinner choices, as well as the pantry. I will post our menu tomorrow for next week. That's all for now, I am going to enjoy my cup of coffee and then get dinner going. Tonight is a netflix movie, and a big bowl of popcorn to go with it!